The purpose of this blog is to maintain a log of my progress in dealing with Multiple Myeloma and to share my experience with family and friends.

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Thursday, July 28, 2016

Pushy People

You may have noticed that I haven't updated my blog in quite a while. I apologize for that, but I do have a bit of an explanation. This blog is supposed to be about me, but although things have been going well for me lately, they haven't been going so well for my sister-in-law, Kathy, or Gretchen. Kathy has advanced lung cancer and Gretchen has esophageal cancer. Gretchen goes in for surgery on August 5 for an esophagectomy, which hopefully will be curative. I haven't said much in my blog about all of this because this blog is supposed to be about me, not Kathy or Gretchen, and I want to respect their privacy. But I feel guilty blogging about me when my family is not doing so well.

Anyway, as for me, my latest Farber visit was still good. I met with Paul Richardson on July 18, and he reassured me about several concerns I had about my reduced iron levels, elevated free light chain Lambda levels, and my ongoing GI issues. (I try to keep track of all my critical blood test parameters and look for any trends that look abnormal.) He said I'm doing fine and gave me good guidance on all of the above. I always feel better after meeting with him. Based on his suggestion, I'm going to meet with the hematologist in a couple of weeks to deal with my iron deficiency, but Paul assured me that it is unrelated to my MM. That's comforting. By the way, I just passed my 5th anniversary of my MM diagnosis on July 13, and I'm still here. Yay!

Sunset at Cuttyhunk

I just spent the last four days sailing with my friend, Lew, on his 35-foot sailboat. We left Sunday from South Dartmouth, MA for Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard. It was a wonderful getaway for me. We had a great time! After two nights in Edgartown, we sailed to Cuttyhunk. We grilled a delicious meal of blackfish on the boat Tuesday. Here is a picture of the sunset that evening. Yesterday we came home. The company was awesome and the food was great, as usual!

After we got our mooring in Edgartown, we listened to a broadcast from another visitor looking for a mooring. She was a very pushy woman. She practically demanded that the harbor master find her a mooring. From her accent, I guessed where she was from, but to avoid being labeled as politically incorrect, just think of a big city between Boston and Philadelphia. ;-) He tried to help her, but she kept stridently demanding more and more specifics about where he wanted her to go. After each transmission, his response time got longer and longer, and all of us listening could sense his annoyance and frustration. Lew and I were thinking that if we had come on to him like that, he might have told us to go moor somewhere else.

Speaking of pushy people, after listening to this interchange, I imagined a scenario where Donald Trump was arriving looking for a mooring at Edgartown. Here is my speculated interchange:

DT: Edgartown Harbor Master, this is the yacht Gargantuan, over.
HM: Go ahead Gargantuan.
DT: I want a mooring, and I want it now and it has to be really great.
HM: How big is your boat?
DT: It's really big. It's friggin' huge. You wouldn't even believe how big it is.
HM: I don't know if we have a space big enough for you.
DT: Look here. I want you to clear out about 200 feet around the best mooring you have to make enough room for my really huge unbelievably beautiful yacht.
HM: I don't think I can do that.
DT: Do you know who you are talking to? This is Donald Trump, the next President of the United States. You'd better do that and do it now! Just tell those people to move and if any of them are immigrants, tell them to go back to where they came from, especially if there are any Muslims.
HM: I'm sorry, Mr. Trump, but that would not be appropriate.
DT: Oh really? Then I'll just buy this harbor right now. And you know what? You're fired! I really love saying that! You'll never get another job, not even to sweep the floor of the lobby in Trump Tower! Believe me. This harbor used to be great, but it's really gone downhill. I will make this harbor great again! Then I can invite my good friend, Putin, to come for a visit.

It's really sad for me to think that this yahoo really could be our next president. Sigh!

9 comments:

Well, your democrats let big pharma write Obamacare, and it is robbery. No limits on drug prices, nothing. For the hardworking self employed American, a family policy with a 5000 deductible is now running over $25,000 a year. ($30,000: out here in the midwest that is more than some make in a whole year).It is criminal. I refuse to go on maintenance for my MM when the cost is cost to $10,000 a month.Don't care insurance would cover it. Because all those costs just make my kids who work extremely hard pay even more for their insurance. Disgusting. All that research paid for by donations, and then big pharma with the governments blessings, gouge the sick. Pharma has Hillary in their back pocket along with most of both parties.Fine if you want to attack Trump, but don't leave out all the rest, or you have no credibility.

So happy to hear you'really doing so well. Stay positive and active that's key. I know this for a fact. I'm a patient of Dr.Richardson and I just celebrated my 13th anniversary since my transplant on June 17.

wow, good news for you on the "5" year anniversary, you've done great and we are all so pleased to hear. But very sorry indeed to hear about Gretchen and your sister in law, I will be sure and keep them in thought and prayer. What a beautiful picture Bill, so glad you get to still do what you love, I'm sure that's a peace of mind for you. ha! I'm still waiting for a reliable candidate to show up at the last minute!! Otherwise I will move to Aruba, one happy island!! :) Take Care Bill -mb

I'm sorry to hear about all of the health issues in your family but I would like to cheer you on for your progress and better health now. I, too, am probably facing MM or aplastic anemia and both require the same types of treatment. I only hope that I can keep up the good spirits, good friends, and especially your great sense of humor--damn the political correctness--can't people just enjoy your great sense of humor at this time in your life? I guess not, because they are the ones who will still vote for him. Take care and I wish the best for all of you!

Thank you for your comments. I hope you can avoid MM, but even if you don't, amazing treatment options are now becoming available. As for the angry responses to my irreverent comments about Trump, it was inevitible in this polarized, politically charged environment.